Vint Cerf (Vinton Gray Cerf)
Vint Cerf (Vinton Gray Cerf) is an American computer scientist best known as an Internet pioneer.
With engineer Bob Kahn, Cerf developed the TCP/IP protocol suite and the architecture that enabled the global "network of networks" that the Internet has become. For his contribution, Vint Cerf is often called "father of the Internet."
Cerf was born June 23, 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut. He received his PhD from UCLA, where he met Bob Kahn who was at that point working on the ARPANET hardware architecture. The two men designed the DoD TCP/IP protocol suite while Cerf was teaching at Stanford University.
Here are a few highlights from Vint Cerf’s career:
- Founding president of the Internet Society (ISOC).
- Past chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
- A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computer Machinery.
- Led DARPA research into Internet data packet and security technologies.
- Received Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Fellow of the IEEE, ACM, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum and the National Academy of Engineering.
- Google vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist.
In a TED talk, Vint Cerf allays fears of a potentially catastrophic Internet crash: